[Upstate NY Guy]

150 years ago today Confederate General John Magruder fooled Union Generals Keyes and McClellen into believing his 13,000 troops outnumbered their 67,000.

Not that McClellen ever needed an excuse for inaction.

[RightOnline]

Exactly....which is why he was eventually fired by Lincoln and replaced by Grant (who had been a total failure as a civilian). Strange how war plucks otherwise-”losers” from obscurity and propels them to greatness at key times in history.

[AU72]

McClellan had such overwhelming superiority in the Peninsula Campaign, all he had to do was keep moving right up to Richmond but Lee knew him and knew he could and did spook him into thinking he had the superiority in troops.

[Joe 6-pack]

As inept as McClellan proved to be on the battlefield, his saddle design is the single piece of equipment in longest continuous use by the US military. It (with minor modifications) was in operational use up to the end of WWII, and has been used by ceremonial units ever since.

The USMC Mameluke Sword was adopted earlier, but it was not authorized between 1859 (curiously, the year the McClellan was first adopted) and 1875.

[SJackson]

150 years ago today Confederate General John Magruder fooled Union Generals Keyes and McClellen into believing his 13,000 troops outnumbered their 67,000.

Some credit due to Alan Pinkerton, still famous for his sleuthing skills. Really wish we had a history forum here.

[Michael.SF.]

In before the LWAT crowd shows up

[matt1234]

Upstate NY Guy, thanks for the informative post.

I have two ancestors who fought in NY Volunteer Infantry Regiments: the 97th and 13th.

[Bringbackthedraft]

The next day Lew Wallace rescued the Union Forces at Pittsburgh Landing, aka Shilo.

[Thrownatbirth]

McClellan’s narcissictic letters whining to his wife and complaining that no one appreciated his brilliance reminds me of a certain occupant in Washington DC.

[smokingfrog]

Take evasive action! Green Group, stay close to holding sector MD-7.

[Verginius Rufus]

During the Peninsula campaign George McClellan used the plantation mansion of Benjamin Harrison, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, as his headquarters. Benjamin Harrison was a first cousin of Robert E. Lee's mother (so when William Henry Harrison was President, Lee was a second cousin of his Commander-in-Chief...all 31 days of his Presidency).

Tomorrow, April 6, is the 150th anniversary of the first day of the battle of Shiloh...and of the death of Albert Sidney Johnston.